Dream Theater - Live at the Marquee

Very worthwhile, despite limited content

A Dream Theater live album under 50 minutes? Only six songs? All I can say is... "TOO SHORT!!!" Live at the Marquee isn't exactly a bang for your buck, but nonetheless, it is very worthwhile. My biggest beef (aside from the fact that it's not beefy!), is the performances are so polished. Overdubs saturate this album, which is basically note for note perfection of the studio songs. I've heard bootlegs from the _Images and Words_ tour, and they don't sound too much like this. The bootlegs are more raw, more intense. Nonetheless, it is still essential to have it in your collection. That's because it's one of the few official releases where you can hear some of this stuff. It's also incredible hearing LaBrie's sing songs from the debut, When Dream and Day Unite. "A Fortune in Lies" gains a whole new level of intensity, and "The Killing Hand" is more epic, more powerful with LaBrie's operatically trained voice. "Bombay Vindaloo" is a menacing instrumental jam that shows off the band's incredible synergy. This is also the only official live release as of this writing where you'll get the chance to here "Surrounded," which isn't much of a concert staple for the band these days. (And it's one of my favorite DT songs!) Unless you want to hunt down bootlegs from the I&W tour (an expensive and frustrating endeavor), this is good to have. It's just too bad it couldn't have been so much more.